Early Breastfeeding Practices Promote Effective Parenting: An Analytical Study in Countries exposed to Conflict in the Middle East

Author Info

Ayoub Al-Jawaldeh Azza Abul-Fadl Hanin Al-Jawaldeh

Corresponding Author

Azza Abul-Fadl
Professor of Pediatrics, Faculty of Medicine, Pediatric department, Benha University, Cairo, Egypt

A B S T R A C T

Background: Breastfeeding is nurture and nutrition for every child, but the extent to which it influences parenting is controversial. Aim: To examine the effect of early breastfeeding practices in relation to child discipline and childcare. Methods: Global data from was examined from 52 provinces in four countries. The data included: early initiation of breastfeeding [EIBF] in the first hour and the first day, offering prelacteals, exclusive breastfeeding [EBF] and continued breastfeeding [CBF]. Parenting practices included exposure to psychological aggression and physical punishment and attitudes to physical punishment for rearing in children 1-14 years. Childcare indices included child left alone, with care of a child less than 10 years and with inadequate caregiver. Correlative studies and descriptive statistical analysis were done. Results: EBI within the first hour of birth was significantly correlated with non-violent discipline [r0.5] P<0.05 and being left alone in the past week [r0.7] P<0.01 and inversely with psychological aggression [r0.4] and minor physical punishment [r-0.4] at P>0.05. EBF inversely correlated with psychological [r-0.5] and minor physical punishment [r-0.4] and being left alone in the past week [r-0.5] at P<0.05. Longer duration of breastfeeding for 12 and 24 months correlated inversely with severe physical punishment [r-0.6 at P<0.01 and r-0.5 at P<0.05 respectively]. CBF for two years was also negatively correlated with being left alone [r0.5 at P>0.05]. Variations between countries in parenting styles and adequacy of childcare related to breastfeeding patterns. Conclusions: Breastfeeding is protective against violent parenting styles and enhances adequacy of childcare. Exposure to operative delivery with anesthesia may interfere with EIBF and negatively influence parenting.

Article Info

Article Type

Research Article

Publication history

Received: Wed 04, Mar 2020
Accepted: Wed 01, Apr 2020
Published: Thu 09, Apr 2020

Copyright

© 2023 Azza Abul-Fadl. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Hosting by Science Repository.
DOI: 10.31487/j.ACR.2020.01.01